The present invention is directed to instrument bodies, and more particularly, to acoustic stringed instrument bodies.
Acoustic stringed instrument bodies like those on guitars, basses violins, cellos and the like have top surfaces called soundboards. These soundboards are typically made from wood and vibrate when the instrument is played. To provide an instrument with the most aesthetically pleasing tones, soundboards are usually tapered or feathered to thin the soundboard near its peripheral edge to allow more movement by the soundboard relative to the side wall of the instrument. However, tapering a soundboard is difficult and time consuming and frequently requires hours of hand sanding by a skilled craftsman to form a taper at the soundboard""s edges which is not visually apparent.
One drawback associated with conventional soundboards involves the prohibitive costs of tapering a high quality instrument soundboard. Another drawback associated with conventional soundboards involves the use of wood as a soundboard material. Wood soundboards have a tendency to swell under humid conditions, causing changes in visual appearances and tonal quality. In addition, cracking can occur in wood soundboards under dry conditions.
In view of these drawbacks, there exists a need for an acoustic musical instrument soundboard that does not need to be tapered to achieve good tonal quality. There also exists a need for a wooden acoustic musical instrument soundboard that is robustly designed to be resistant to changes in atmospheric conditions such as humidity and temperature levels.
The present invention alleviates to a great extent the disadvantages of the prior art by providing an acoustic stringed instrument body including a soundboard with a relief cut around its periphery. The relief cut forms a more flexible coupling between the soundboard and the sidewall of the instrument, which improves the tone of the instrument.
One aspect of the present invention involves an acoustic stringed instrument body, including a soundboard, a bottom surface and a side surface, wherein the soundboard includes a relief cut to create a more flexible coupling between the soundboard and the sidewall thereby improving the tone of the instrument by allowing the soundboard to vibrate more freely.
Another aspect of the present invention involves an acoustic stringed instrument body, including a soundboard having an exterior surface, wherein a relief cut is located on the exterior surface close to the perimeter of the exterior surface.
A further aspect of the present invention involves an acoustic stringed instrument body, including a soundboard having an interior surface, wherein a relief cut is located on the interior surface close to the perimeter of the interior surface.
Yet another aspect of the present invention involves an acoustic stringed instrument body, including a soundboard having a relief cut with a semicircular, rectangular or triangular cross-section.
Another aspect of the present invention involves an acoustic stringed instrument body, including a back wall having a relief cut, wherein the relief cut in the back wall improves the tone of the instrument by allowing the back wall to vibrate more freely.
A further aspect of the present invention involves an acoustic stringed instrument body, including a soundboard is made of wood, wherein a relief cut in the soundboard permits stretching and contraction of the wooden soundboard due to changes in atmospheric conditions.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated from review of the following detailed description of the invention, along with the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout.